Thank you PRH audio for my review copy.

Intense book about racism, misunderstandings, misunderstandings, and most of all being human and making mistakes. I felt really uncomfortable reading certain parts of this book and I think that’s what makes a book great. You cringe, you drop your jaw in disbelief and in the end you think about your own interactions and the ways you would handle things. It was tense if ugly.

I very much enjoyed this overall. The book does a great job of exploring racism and hate in a realistic way, making the characters likable but also unlikable. It’s not hard to relate but also feel gross about their actions, which I think is the point. It’s rare to read a book that captures all the little nuances so well, and I applaud the author for not making this easy on the reader. Good people can do bad things, and bad people can do good things. Good and bad are subjective, but one’s inherent nature isn’t cancelled by their actions. I especially liked the parallels between Salma and Willa, and the way they were both given full internal dialogue so you could examine their actions and your own feelings about them.

On the critical side, I did think it might have been a little too long. Not that it’s super long but I felt like it started getting a little repetitive and then it had to keep upping the stakes. It reminded me a little of the show Lost in that it was so solid but backed itself into a corner and ultimately might have gone a bit over the edge to keep up the momentum. That said, I loved the fjnal section and some of the reveals, if only because they drove home the message of the book very well.

Very solid read and recommended if you’re interested in exploring these topics with a writer who clearly has feelings about them but also has a good sense of the complexity of these situations.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Lets just get straight to the point.. Kia Abdullah, has done it again, I present to you, the 2023 book of the year..

drum roll please...

Perfectly Nice Neighbors

Take it Back and Truth Be Told, are two of my favorite books. so it came as no surprise that I would fall head over heels in love with Perfectly Nice Neighbors. Although, I will say, there was something completely different about this book in comparison to previously published books.

Jam packed with twists and turns, this book will give you mental whiplash.

Perfectly paced with characters you will love and some you will love to hate. There is no shortage of shock factor. This is a book you finish in one sitting.

Don't take my word for it, check out this teaser :

Salma Khatun is hopeful about Blenheim, the suburban development into which she, her husband, and their son have just moved. The Bangladeshi family needs a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like just the place.

Soon after they move in, Salma spots her White neighbor, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in the front garden. Avoiding confrontation, Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window. But the next morning, she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint.

When she does speak to Tom, battle lines are drawn between the two families. As racial and social tensions escalate and the stakes rise, it’s clear that a reckoning is coming . . .

And someone is going to get hurt.

WOW! That was a heck of a ride. Kia Abdullah is a master at writing a fast paced thriller but lacking a punch with social commentary. This did not disappoint.
Classism, racism, the double edged sword of social media… all because of a sign. *chefs kiss *

Woah. What the heck did I just read?? This is a very fast paced book, and tells a story of how seemingly harmless pranks or comments can snowball into a much larger issue. Everytime I thought, okay this is where people finally get reasonable, another twist was thrown in. Definitely a good read!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

This book was very intense and thought provoking. I experienced a wide variety of emotions with this one. This long drawn out battle between neighbors turned so ugly and tragic. I couldn't pick a side because everyone of them shared in the blame. The ending was a huge shock! The book was well written an absolute page turner I highly recommend it. Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This was another in the list of thrillers this year that were just okay for me. I enjoyed it and was intrigued to read until the end. I liked the two teenage characters a lot and I really felt for what they were going through. But the adults in the story were so petty and stupid that it made me unbelievably frustrated. The kids were by far more mature than them. It had great tension and suspense leading up to solving the mystery. I thought it did bring to light important topics like classism and racism. Other than the annoying and ridiculous adults, I did enjoy how the rest of the story played out and I thought the pacing was done really well. It was twisty and thought-provoking. I love a good multiple POV to build the story and delve into different perspectives. It was a good read and I’d recommend it to thriller lovers. It just wasn’t anything that totally blew my mind or will be particularly memorable as time goes on. I will definitely read from this author again. I enjoyed her writing style. It’s a solid three stars for me.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy for my free and honest review. I could not finish this book unfortunately.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I will definitely read another. This book has long chapters and is full of drama. At times it seemed to be a bit much with all of the things that the family went through, and for me got a little long. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and not knowing who to trust. I thought I knew how it was going to end however the twist was so good, I did not see it coming. 3.5 stars

Salma Khatun and her family are the new (Bangladeshi) kids on the block. But what if your new neighbors make it very clear that you and your family are not welcome?

This book had a ton of potential but just didn't do it for me. So many accusations, so much going wrong, so little communication. It got off to a fast start. but I soon found it dragging, despite the constant drama and troubles for everyone involved. Some characters were too much, some were not enough, and I couldn't quite find anyone who was "just right". I wanted to know how it all ended, but honestly didn't really care how it got there.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Salma and Bilal are your typical British couple looking to move off the estate and into a quiet suburban neighborhood. She’s a geography teacher and he’s a restaurateur, though the pandemic has made it really hard to keep a business afloat in the latter industry. When they first view the house in Blenheim while looking for places to buy, they’re not entirely thrilled at the prospect of moving into a neighborhood that’s so seemingly stuffy. It is, alas, the most desirable property that still fits into their budget.

An unexpected financial setback does not deter them from going through with the purchase. They are, after all, motivated:

QUOTE
By the time the restaurant closed, however, they had already started the process of buying their house in Blenheim and convinced themselves to take the leap. Five months later, they still hadn’t sold the restaurant premises and things were getting tight. The thought brought a familiar unease and Salma had to remind herself that they barely had a choice. Not after what happened with Zain. This was the safest place that they could afford and they would make the most of it.
END QUOTE

Zain, their teenage son, had earlier landed in the middle of a fracas that involved the police and other kids from his estate. Desperate to remove him from the circumstances that both led up to the event and are making it harder for him to get his life back on track, Salma and Bilal are prepared to make any sacrifice.

And at first, their new neighbors seem to be quite nice, though unaware of the impact their microaggressions as white people have on their neighbors of Bangladeshi origin. Things start getting weird, however, when a small Black Lives Matter banner Zain puts up in their front yard keeps getting knocked over. Salma comes home early one day and catches her immediate next door neighbor Tom in the act of knocking it down. Not wanting to confront him, she places the torn down sign in her front window. When someone paints over the pane of glass where the banner is sitting, things quickly go from bad to worse to unthinkable.

Trying to bring some semblance of sanity to the proceedings are both Tom’s son Jamie and Zain, who’ve developed an easy friendship as well as an interest in going into business developing apps together. Zain tries to bring up Tom’s overreaction to the banner and to a subsequent social media post to his new friend:

QUOTE
“Look, you don’t have to tell me but is he a bit funny with people like us?”

“‘Like us’?”

Zain rolled his eyes. “LIke me and my mum and dad.” He waited. “<i>Brown</i> people,” he said impatiently.

Jamie gave him a comical look. “Mate, my dad doesn’t discriminate, all right? He hates everyone equally.”

Zain didn’t laugh. “I just don’t understand why a person gets so worked up over a banner. Or a tweet that didn’t even identify him.”

“Mate, my dad gets worked up when people don’t put things back on the right shelf at Tesco, or if they park their car an inch over their bay, or if they don’t throw out an empty box of tea from a cupboard at work. He’s a complainer. It’s got nothing to do with you being brown. Trust me.”
END QUOTE

Passages like these make it quite clear that there’s still a huge lack of understanding regarding systemic racism in the first world, and how pretending not to see color is really just complicity in a power structure that privileges some at the expense of others. It’s truly strange how some people will argue situations while insisting that the details of the power dynamics within them be stripped off, pretending that very important information – such as race – is merely decoration, when that very “decoration” is what gives nuance to the issue. It’s silly and lazy to treat people equally when what society needs is for every individual to be treated justly. Equality, for example, would mean that everyone gets a hearing aid whether they need it or not, which is a bizarre waste of resources. Justice would mean that those with hearing impairments would be provided the ability to access the same information as everyone else. Pretending that there is no difference merely feeds into the rhetoric of people who take satisfaction in keeping other people down instead of working to progress society as a whole.

Kia Abdullah knows how to write a thriller that will leave readers guessing right up to the very last page. She isn’t afraid to tackle controversial issues in a vividly entertaining manner. Her examination of the ways in which women are blamed for things outside of their control was especially thoughtful. There’s definitely much to think about within the pages of this domestic yet undeniably political thriller.

Well, where do I start with this book?! I really liked and appreciated this book! It was fast-paced, filled with every sort of character you could find in your own neighborhood, and it had real-life depth. At times, I wanted to yell and scream at the characters and had to suspend disbelief, but for the most part this was a pretty solid thriller! I did need to put down the book at times as it was kind of “heavier”(emotion wise) thriller especially being a POC reader!!! AND THAT ENDING😮

It is currently out now so definitely go out and get it if the synopsis is up your alley (swipe to see!)

3.50⭐️

Special thanks to @putnambooks and netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Good fences make good neighbors, so the saying goes. Kia Abdullah knows her allusions, and when she begins her new novel, Perfectly Nice Neighbors, with a broken fence, it’s clear that the two families sharing this fence are going to be broken as well.

When Salma Khatun and her family move into the English estate of Blenheim, she’s eager for a fresh start. The pandemic led her husband Bil to lose his Pakistani restaurant, and their son Zain’s problems at school forced them to leave their old neighborhood. But the new start falters almost immediately. Zain’s “Black Lives Matter” banner is ripped out of the ground, and when Salma puts it inside the window, the window is painted over. Could the culprit be her next-door-neighbor, Tom?

Tom, a white advertising executive, has a blond wife, Willa, and a partially deaf son, Jamie. He claims he’s not racist; he would disapprove of any neighbor who planted a banner (they’re prohibited in the neighborhood), parked too close to his driveway, or let the dog squeeze under his fence. Salma is haughty and needs to know her place.

As the adults go at each other with an escalating series of tit-for-tat, Jamie and Zain form a tentative friendship. But as the stakes get higher, it’s clear that someone is going to get hurt.

Neighbors is an almost perfectly structured book, with a lean cast and a fast pace. Tom, Willa, Salma, and Zain are all (third person) point-of-view characters; Bil and Jamie seem to share a vulnerability that leaves them prey to bullies.

Of all the characters, Salma is the most well-rounded. A teacher, she tries to understand the people around her, how the events in their lives have shaped them. Still, she admits that tall, blond Willa brings out a visceral reaction in her—she just doesn’t trust white women. Readers won’t trust her, either—newly pregnant after years of trying, Willa still smokes and drinks behind her husband’s back. More broadly, she’s a snob who thinks she married beneath herself, and her friends are snobs, too.

Tom doesn’t come off too well, either. He admits to anger issues, and he thinks that should absolve him of racism because he’s an equal opportunity rage-a-holic. He rarely takes responsibility for his actions, always blaming others. Readers will not empathize with Tom or Willa, and their points-of-view seem to be included in order to ramp up the tension rather than to try to balance a story of two families.

Abdullah’s previous book, Next of Kin, is daring in both plot and plot twists. Her trademark is to leave scenes early and let readers erroneously fill in the gaps. Neighbors is such a straightforward read that it seems impossible she’ll be able to do this. Don’t let your guard down!

The book climaxes with a nice twist, but the ending is downright chilling. Abdullah begins the book referring to one cliché--Good fences make good neighbors—and ends with another one: What goes around comes around.

Thanks to Putnam for the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how this thriller weaves important topics throughout - racism and classism, bias, social media, and politics. Even though this book wasn’t set in the U.S., I felt a lot of the social commentary was extremely relevant.

This book has a lot of twists and turns, and I definitely wasn’t expecting the ending twist 😅 also, I highly recommend the audiobook version; the narration is great.

If you haven’t read anything by Kia Abdullah, do it NOW!

Thank you @netgalley and @hqstories for the #gifted e-book copy!

This was a twisty domestic thriller, I enjoyed how the author addressed racism in this book. I did get angry at some of the characters throughout the story. Though it captured me and wanted to keep turning pages to finish it. There were just sometimes that it feels that the packing was off. 3.5 stars

When neighbors go to war, the neighborhood....for good or for bad....will choose sides. This kind of battle has no winners, only losers. This book had many events that were hard to read. In today's cultures, you'd like to think that racism does not exist on this scale. Kia Abdullah does an excleent job of skillfully unwinding a disturbing tale.

I love books that deftly weave social issues/commentary into their stories, and Perfectly Nice Neighbors does it so well! Known for her legal thrillers, predominately takes place in a suburban neighborhood setting. The tension builds slowly while exposing that everyone in the neighborhood is harboring secrets, some much darker than others. This book explores themes of class, race, and privilege in a way that's both though provoking and familiar to people with direct experience without explicitly letting anyone off the hook. The author is skilled at navigating the complexities of these issues and avoids any impulse to paint any one person or group as all good or all bad. If you're looking for a solid suspense novel, give this one a try.

Thank you to the publishers for the arc!

I think this is a good book club book, but I didn’t personally love it. I would also recommend this to fans of domestic, realistic thrillers. It reminded me of Little Fires everywhere by Celeste Ng but a little less literary. It won’t catch murder mystery fans and it doesn’t stand as a strong thriller. That being said, it explores some rich, important themes that are great to explore through fiction. Great for discussion, less so for personal gratification.

This is my second Kia Abdullah read and it most certainly will not be my last. This is a complex neighborhood drama that escalated rather quickly. It's a very current, suspenseful, and thought-provoking book. It will keep you guessing until the very last page. I highly recommend it! Brava, Ms. Abdullah!

Thanks to the publisher and the author for a ARC provided by Netgalley!

This was my first novel by Kia Abdullah, but likely won't be my last. I was expecting more of a courtroom story, since that seems to be her specialty, but I was not disappointed.

This was a great neighborhood drama that kept me engaged throughout the entire novel. I did, however, struggle to have any sympathy for any of the characters, they were all kind of terrible people.